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Michael J. Mullen / times-shamrock
Sandy Fonzo of Wilkes-Barre, whose son, Ed, committed suicide, yells at former Luzerne County judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. as he leaves the courthouse after the verdict in his corruption trial. Fonzo is one of the parents featured in the documentary 'Kids for Cash.' It debuted at DOC NYC film festival on Sunday.

NEW YORK - I've replayed the scene in my head dozens of times, but still found myself gripping the armrest of the movie theater seat in the seconds before Sandy Fonzo appeared on screen.

Sitting in the SVA Theater in New York City for the world premiere of the "Kids for Cash" documentary, I should have been well prepared for the moment. I had twice seen the movie at pre-screening sessions held by the film's producer, SenArt Films. I knew full well what was coming.

Anxiety still overtook me Sunday afternoon as Sandy's anguished face appeared on screen, screaming at former Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. on the steps outside the federal courthouse in Scranton following the conclusion of his trial.

The widely publicized confrontation between the grief-stricken mother and the just-convicted judge is among many emotional scenes in "Kids for Cash," the feature-length documentary about the Luzerne County juvenile justice scandal that sent Ciavarella, former Judge Michael T. Conahan and several others to prison.

I came to know Robert May, the film's producer and director, personally in the four years the film was in the making. I had been one of the lead reporters covering the scandal and Robert approached me early in 2009 to ask if he could tap my knowledge of the case to help tell the story. He and his film crew visited me about a half-dozen times.

His hard work finally complete, I sat in the crowded theater Sunday with Sandy and each of the four juveniles whose stories are profiled in the film. I had promised myself this time when I saw it, I wouldn't cry. Sandy, once again, got the best of me.

I had previously told Sandy's story of her struggles with her son, Ed Kenzakoski, as part of a series of articles that exposed the draconian sentences Ciavarella had been imposing in his more than a decade as Luzerne County's juvenile court judge.

The articles, which appeared several months before Ciavarella and Conahan were arrested, were prompted by extraordinary action taken by the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia. The nonprofit group filed a court motion asking the state Supreme Court to take control of the county's juvenile justice system after uncovering evidence children were being denied their right to an attorney.

In days following the filing, I was bombarded by calls from more than a dozen parents, including Sandy, who told stories of 90-second hearings at which neither they nor their child were given any chance to speak. They then watched in disbelief as their children were shackled and led from the courtroom.

Many of the stories impacted me emotionally. No story touched me more than Sandy's.

On Memorial Day 2010, Ed Kenzakoski killed himself. Sandy blamed Ciavarella for her son's death, claiming the more than three years Ed spent in juvenile detention and on probation for possession of drug paraphernalia set in motion the downward spiral that led him to shoot himself through the heart.

In the weeks after the trial, Sandy was applauded and vilified by the public for her emotional outburst. Some rallied around her for saying what so many other parents had wanted to say. Others berated her for blaming the judge for Ed's death, noting he was a troubled man who had a history of arrests for assault.

To me, Sandy epitomized the tragedy of the juvenile justice scandal. She, like many other parents I spoke to, thought the system would provide her son the guidance and support he needed to cure his errant ways. Instead they found themselves locked up for years, caught up in an endless cycle of release and detain after they committed minor violations of probation.

Juvenile justice experts widely agree Ciavarella's judicial philosophy - whether you believe it was motivated by money or some skewed sense of justice - harmed many juveniles. Rather than using the least-restrictive measures, he jailed juveniles for minor offenses, tearing them from their families, their schools and their friends at a most crucial time in their lives.

While most of those kids - including the son of one my best friends - made it through and went on with their lives, Sandy is left to visit Ed's grave site.

The sound of her anguished voice as she confronted Ciavarella still haunts me today.

"Do you remember my son? An all-star wrestler? He's dead. He shot himself in the heart."

In my 25 years as a journalist, I've interviewed many parents who have lost children. I've often had to fight to maintain my composure as I gently prodded them to provide heart-wrenching details of their childen's lives. Sandy tested me more that day than I had ever been tested before.

And she did something else that day, too.

As a crime and courts reporter, I've seen firsthand man's inhumanity to man. Despite that, I had always believed that deep down, man was good.

Sandy's story, and those of the numerous other parents and juveniles I interviewed, changed me forever. It woke me up from the la-la land that I had been living in and made me see the world in a whole new, ugly, perspective.

I'm proud of my role in "Kids for Cash," an important film that tells the story of one of the worst juvenile justice scandals in this nation's history. Greedy judges jailing kids for money? It was a reporter's dream.

But I wish the hell it never happened.

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Terrie Morgan-Besecker covered the kids-for-cash scandal as courts and crime reporter for The Times Leader. She joined Times-Shamrock in March of 2013 as an investigative reporter for The Times-Tribune. The documentary will have a second screening Feb. 5 in Philadelphia, two days before it is released in theaters nationwide.

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